Kup thought he had to be eight parts mad to attempt climbing the mountain at night.
On a mountain path where even locals had no shortage of cases of losing their footing and falling, they could only rely on torchlight to feel their way forward step by step. No one could tell whether the shadow at the edge of the light concealed their next foothold or an abyss of eternal damnation.
But the Priest was right: on a road like this, climbing the mountain in the rain was simply impossible.
If he waited for the downpour to begin and the route up the mountain became completely impassable, allowing an active Anomaly source to roam free for days—or even half a month—and undergo unpredictable changes, then he would be the truly mad one.
He did not know why the blacksmith had insisted on bringing that thing up the mountain, but they had to find it now. At the very least, they needed to confirm that it was harmless for the time being.
If conditions allowed, perhaps he could even bring it back and persuade Kraft to transfer him out of the Chief Resident position and into a special-duty post dedicated to field assignments.
As for the risks involved, of course he had considered them.
He seemed able to vaguely sense the presence of abnormal things, which would give him time to react if the situation went bad. Benny counted as half-experienced, and an accident was unlikely to befall him easily. The Priest was the only weak link, but any one of them could quickly restrain him.
If they truly ran into an emergency that required action, Yvonne was there as a safeguard. A few minor troubles would be nothing to her.
Besides, he had heard about Dominic and Feld's experiences. Broadly